[Not much would happen on Sephiroth's end at least, if only because that's not really possible right now, but with Turks you never know. When all the lights aren't thrown on and happy sounding chatter from some nurse telling him it's time to check some monitor or do another test or something, the fog is slower to clear. Long enough maybe for Zack to doze off a bit.
He's not really expecting company; the presence of the black haired SOLDIER isn't unwelcome but it's certainly ... really confusing. It takes sluggish thoughts a little bit to conclude that he probably hadn't managed to call for help or anything, but maybe someone checked his relic for contacts.
With all the slowness of a motivated worm, he moves just enough to reach one hand towards Zack with every intention of giving the lightest of pokes. This could after all be a dream, or a weird drug interaction hallucination.]
[Surprise, it is neither! The poke has Zack jerking alert, eyes snapping open, his legs splaying to balance himself so he doesn't fall right out of his chair.]
Whoa!
[His gaze shifts towards the source, shock slowly unraveling as he parses what he finds: Sephiroth.]
[Since presumably hallucinations can't be touched, Zack must actually be there. Dreams probably could be, but that seemed not likely the more sleep cleared away.
He'd have picked a more familiar location wouldn't he?]
...I think so.
[The hoarse rasp is to be expected, sounding great wasn't going to happen. Nor was sitting up, no matter how strong the impulse was to prove he's fine, even just to himself.]
Why are you here? [No that's not right, it's not what he was trying to ask, so he tries again, settling his arm back down. Zack is not an unwelcome sight, but it IS a mystery.] How did you know where I am?
[Zack gives him a returning poke- right to the forehead, since everything else is unknown-wound territory and he doesn't want to cause the poor kid more pain. Feel that? He's very real!
The question is sobering after a moment, though.]
The guy who did this to you broke into my room and woke me up to come and stay with you. It's been a weird night.
[Though there's a wince at being poked it doesn't seem to be a pain sort of reaction. No, he's grateful, really! It's nice to see someone he's reasonably sure isn't going to suddenly shoot him full of holes! .. Granted he also hadn't thought Vincent was going to and that didn't exactly turn out well.
Which might be why as Zack explains how he got there, his expression shifts a bit, terribly confused, attempting to work out exactly how any of that made sense. This effort fails, visibly. Maybe he hadn't shaken off sleep or fatigue enough yet.]
That's ... [COMPLETELY. NONSENSICAL. And Zack isn't likely to have any idea either, unless Turks operate very differently than what he thought. While it takes effort to both speak clearly and have a fully formed sentence, he's determined to do just that. It slows him down a bit.] ...I thought Turks were more professional than that.
Yeahhh, I don't think that guy's been a Turk for a long, long time. Not that that makes any of this better, but it explains one thing.
[That is, the lack of restraint. Though "professional" doesn't always come to mind when he thinks about the Turks he knows. Mostly Reno. He's a bit too off the cuff.
He doesn't really want to talk about Vincent, though. At least not yet.]
How you feeling? Have they been treating you well here?
His ID card was out of date by .. thirteen years. It looked recent though. I thought it was more like .. our time gap.
[But in the other direction. Earlier, and possibly under cover, but what sort of mission would require an outfit like that?
He hadn't thought about it as much as he probably should have. Trusting strangers, even ones that were potential allies, isn't something that should be done quickly it seems.
There's no quick response to the question, his gaze shifting away from Zack to scan the room again, measuring. This has in fact, been one of the most surreal experiences of his life but not for the typical reasons.]
...Tired. But it doesn't hurt as much as usual. [It didn't feel great to just lay there, feeling the pain of fresh surgery and a day's being hunted. But there's actually drugs in some of those IV bags, and while Hojo never bothered, they apparently did!] This is the strangest lab I have been in. They're kind but ... ask? About everything, when I'm awake enough.
[It's called 'consent'.]
And then the nurse that looks like a moth puts me back out when they're done.
[Thirteen years, huh. That makes sense, if he knew about Sephiroth's birth and his mom. Though if it was thirteen years too old when Sephiroth's at this age it means it's way out of date in Cloud's time. Damn. That is hella retired.
He sizes Sephiroth up, taking in his expression, what he can glean from the kid's condition, his general vibe. He does look tired, but not at death's door at least. Less pale than he'd been when Zack first arrived. It's a good sign.]
It's not a lab, it's a hospital. Believe it or not this is how med treatment is supposed to go.
[SOLDIERs really do get the short end of the stick. Doesn't surprise him that Sephiroth doesn't know what a hospital is like, though. He probably always had to go back to the lab... what a depressing thought.]
[Turks don't retire! It must be time shenanigans! ... There's information missing here, which he'll one day figure out. Thirty years cumulatively is a long time, and Vincent doesn't look THAT old.
He shifts a little under the older SOLDIER's scrutiny. He knows it's everywhere, signs of his own inability to fight off even one single Turk. Probably it was second-hand embarrassing for Zack.]
...It doesn't really encourage you to not fail next time though, does it.
[This is a normal thing, for normal people. Comfort and a television and painkillers and antibiotics. Normal things. It's almost insulting to his training and education to this point, but he knows it's not the medication that keeps him from being able to lever himself upright when he suddenly gives it a try, the dragging weakness entirely his own.]
I'll do better. It won't happen again.
[Sephiroth tries his best to sound reassuring, but it's hard to really look it while being cosseted by some hospital's efforts.]
[Honestly neither do SOLDIERs, it's pretty effed up. Either way, he seems to be less-Turk-like these days, especially since he was part of Cloud's group and they not only fought Shinra but killed Hojo and Sephiroth, so.
Zack considers that comment with furrowed brows, and shakes his head.]
Listen... what happened wasn't your fault. He shouldn't have done it. You're not the one who has to do better in this case.
[He knows what it's like, to feel like a failure even when the cause of the problem isn't anything you did. He gets it. But he wishes there'd been someone around back then, someone he could tell everything (without worrying about classified or bureaucratic bull) who could in turn tell him it wasn't his fault, or his failure.
[Zack didn't retire either! He just. ... Left. If history didn't go the way it did, would anyone in SOLDIER even get to live long enough to grow old and retire?
There were few old Turks too, but at least there were a couple.]
Maybe not the circumstances.
[He'll allow that, with a breathy sort of half-hearted laugh. He didn't choose to get shot down, after all. There's still a flaw in Sephiroth's thinking, a certainty that if a Turk came after him it was with a good reason, like being ordered to. That it was personal hasn't entered the equation.]
What I did is my fault though. I shouldn't ... have treated it like the only threat was scavenging monsters. I didn't think one of the monsters had a gun.
[Calling people monsters is generally taboo, but in his defense, Vincent was very literally a monster at several points. The erratic jumping markers on the monitors suggest he is nowhere near as calm and unaffected by this as he's trying to act.]
... I'm glad he brought you though.
[Zack didn't care if his performance hadn't been perfect. Zack wouldn't make him do it over and over again until he got it right.]
[Yeah, SOLDIERs don't really get to retire. But Turks don't get thousands and thousands of gil worth of chemicals poured into them, or a finite resource like Jenova cells... presumably.
Zack watches him as he answers, frowning tightly. It's not entirely unlike Sephiroth to be self-critical, but he's usually far more sure of himself overall. But he's still a kid, and a long way from the indomitable top dog of SOLDIER. Of course he's going to be reconsidering future strategies.
Damn you, Vincent, though. Now he'll be less inclined to trust others- and that can lead to isolation. How can he backpedal on this...?]
I'm glad, too. You shouldn't have to be dealing with this solo. I've got your back, okay? So you can rest and heal up without worry. For right now, though, will you tell me how exactly it went down? Vincent wasn't all that chatty.
[He'd scolded his own team about splitting off and going alone into dangerous locations, and then he'd done the same thing! It's a well deserved comeuppance as far as Sephiroth is concerned, but also one he'll be far more cautious about letting repeat itself.
Whether or not it meant he'd take backup next time, if there was a next time, or simply make sure he's the one doing the hunting remained to be seen. He's not sure it's something he should ask of anyone. Zack's already been dragged along through too much, even he could see that.]
I can tell you what happened, but I can't tell you why for certain.
[Sephiroth doesn't KNOW why. He has a lot of guesses. But they're just guesses.
In spite of claiming he would, it takes him a minute to actually bother to do so.]
When he arrived during the science fair, I approached him because he had a pistol with a materia slot as a reward, and I thought I could bargain it away from him if he didn't know what it was. He did, and he had identification on him. Vincent Valentine, General Affairs Department. Out of date, but still pretty new looking. Since he's ... possibly from the past I wanted to ask him about some people. My mother among them.
[But not JUST her. It takes him time to work through it, voice still uncomfortably hoarse, the dry feeling never quite going away. The memory of the blistering heat of the desert lingered too.]
He wanted somewhere more private so others wouldn't overhear. The school was crowded, it made sense. He chose the mountain in Cruel Summer, daybreak. I ... make a very visible target in the air these days.
[The undamaged wing shifts slightly, almost a shrug, beneath the shrouding blanket.]
When I was within range, he shot me out of the sky, about halfway up the mountain. [It was a long, long fall. He doesn't remember the impact, or how long he was on the ground for.] ...I didn't think it'd be him, just some idiot hunter, sniping at potential monsters without being sure of the target. I was wrong. I spent til sunset being hounded from more secure locations by what I thought was just scavengers and a behemoth cub.
[Twelve hours, bloody and broken, being chased from dark hiding spot to dark hiding spot, through the vicious desert heat. No food, no water, no time to rest. But there was always a waiting monster. That though, the last bit is what's important, and in a gathering moment of bitter spite, someone else's secret becomes rather less secret.]
He's a shapechanger. Not like Familiars. I didn't know Turks had agents like that. That other form.. it's not a natural behemoth.
[Zack listens, of course - it's long, god help his attention span - but it's the last comment that has him caught off guard, truly.]
Wait, not a familiar thing? I don't think Turks can do that, either. They're not, uh. Experiments. Maybe it's something that happened after he left?
[Turks are just... Turks. Incredibly skilled, dripping in resource accessibility, utterly professional. But still just normal humans with normal weapons. What set them apart was their training, not physical enhancements. Or weird powers.]
He said he stopped when he saw your locket. Did he say anything about her?
Unless he lied, which .. is possible, he still considers himself a Turk. I don't think he left.
[Or at least, he didn't leave the Turks, and the science department was up to some unsactioned things. Which ... knowing Hojo as well as he did, he could easily believe. Except Turks looked after their own, and surely they wouldn't have just ... let one go missing. They had to know.
The train of thought is pushed away. It's easier to consider things in the nice neat categories he'd been taught. Anything else can wait til later, when he had time to mull the implications better.
But Vincent could also be lying. Or telling the absolute truth, and he's back to where he started - don't trust people he can't absolutely verify. On whether or not Vincent said anything, he has to think about it.]
.... No. I don't think he did. By then I was... [Actively dying. It wasn't as bad as he expected it to be, except that he was certain it was frightening in spite of the reassurances (or demands) that he couldn't feel fear anymore and it had been thoroughly trained out.] ..Not really clearheaded. He was angry, I think. Before that, calm. Apologetic it took that long to catch up. Just another job.
[Zack exhales an annoyed noise, leaning back in his chair. This is one heck of a mess, still. Now what? He genuinely doesn't care whether Vincent is or isn't a Turk (but seriously they don't dress like that), what kind of job he thinks he's taken on, whether this change of heart is long term or not. He doesn't know the man. They're not friends, he doesn't have to care. Let Cloud handle that one.
Sephiroth, though...]
Feels unfair to ask this of you when you're the one who got attacked, but... think we can manage some kind of truce between you two? It'd be best if no one tries to kill anybody else.
[They definitely don't dress like that. Ever. And yet this one does.
The thought of a truce appears to be completely out of left field, by the way his expression blanks, confused. Again there's no response right away, as this processes sluggishly. He wasn't as yet terribly inclined towards revenge, and if it had been just a job, then retaliating against Vincent wouldn't do any good.
He'd have to go after whoever gave him the job.]
What.. why would..
[There is another brief, aborted effort to sit up, but he gives up on it quickly. MUCH too soon to be moving around too much, and his sigh is very put upon. This is what he gets.]
What would be the point? He won't stay down anyway. In fact why did he bother coming after me, when I'd just--
[It's pretty obvious when his train of thought crashes to a sudden stop and derails entirely.]
....Does he know people don't die?
Edited (Accidentally a meme.) 2024-05-20 20:22 (UTC)
Honestly? I'm not sure he does. Could be he's new enough that no one's given him that memo. We don't actually get a lot of deaths happening in this world.
[The last time it felt like his life was truly in danger - and the last time a trial had a legitimate body count - was months ago. Been a lot of psych drama since then. He died during the fae attacks and he can't even say the new stuff is better.]
I'll let him know, if nobody beats me to it. Pretty sure he won't be attacking you again either way, unless you do something to set him off. ...I don't actually know how easy that would be, sorry. Guy's still a stranger to me.
I received four warnings in my first two weeks here that death doesn't stay dead, and I haven't even tried to kill anything besides monsters. Surely someone would have told him.
[Maybe it was some kind of instinct that tipped people off as to where the danger might come from. But someone was going to have to tell Vincent, or it might happen again, and everyone would be wasting their time.
Maybe he'd do it himself, when moving too much didn't have such an obnoxiously high cost. After all..]
The next time I'll be able to handle it, so I'll tell him myself. I need to find him anyway, easy or not to set him off; he has my things, and ... I think he knows my mother. Or knew, at least.
[Everything else is terribly morose, but that is a little bright spot. A tiny bit of hope. He might finally get some real, substantial information!]
Did Vincent seem like the kind of person who socialized? You probably got told because you talked to people. I think he just lurks and says cryptic shit.
[Vincent is welcome to try and prove him wrong, but he's doubtful it'll work.
Zack does sigh, though, because at the mention of his mom, he's reminded that it's... probably time to come clean. If they keep all these secrets he's just going to ask these questions to the wrong people, probably. Like maybe people who don't want to deal with him, people who shouldn't have to.]
He does know her. We talked on the train. And... truth is, I know a little more than I claimed, back when we met. I'll tell you if you want to hear it, but I hope you'll understand why I kept it to myself once you know. [He pauses, then adds reluctantly,] The future's really ugly.
[One pale hand rises, hospital bracelets dangling, to make a so-so gesture before dropping back down. Vincent seemed perfectly normal to him but Sephiroth also understood that his grasp of social mores was weak at best, therefore he's probably not the best judge.
But lurking and saying cryptic shit did sound on point for pretty much any Turk too.
Oh but then there's confirmation that he's on the right track and -- on its heels follows much more ominous words. Zack was from the future, he knew that. They were SOLDIERs, killers by trade, weapons to be pointed at an enemy and told to remove all threats ... what could be uglier than what he was already doing in Rhadore?]
.... I won't blame you if it's not rainbows and good times. I know what we are.
[He really doesn't. Not like that.]
But if.. ..anything's better than nothing, Zack. A lot of people come from ... terrible families, or bad circumstances. But at least it's something.
[There's a part of him, small and unhappy, that feels a bit stung that all this time Zack might have already had the answers he'd wanted and said nothing. But ... late was better than never, right?]
[Yeah, he really, really doesn't know. But at the same time he does, in a way. They're SOLDIERs. They're not meant to live rainbow-good-time lives. Just because Sephiroth has more Jenova-juice in him doesn't change what he is. Tragedy follows them. A den of monsters.
Just sucks that this poor kid is about to find out he's gonna grow up to be King Monster.
Zack rests his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together, chin balanced against them, and for a long few moments he says nothing, just thinks. He thinks really hard about how he wants to share... well, any of this.
Maybe start with what he knows Sephiroth wants the most. It was in many ways the beginning of all of this, and it might lighten the sting of Zack keeping quiet about it before.]
I didn't lie to you, when you showed me that picture, [he begins, slow and careful.] I'd never seen that woman in my life. Whoever gave it to you lied about her name, though. It's not Jenova. Jenova's an alien, your mom's human.
[That was. Odd. He had thought his mother was human, she certainly looked it in the photograph. But in turn Zack knew about the .. alien? And not the woman.
This is mulled over. That there's an alien at all is certainly a thing, but with more relevant things at hand, it's dismissed. If jenova isn't his mother, then so be it; there were other names to be uncovered.
[It's weirdly comforting that he went directly for her identity, and not info on Jenova. Sure, it was his goal from the start, but it's still... sort of a relief? A Jenova-crazy Sephiroth probably would have pivoted. He sure hadn't cared about any human mom in the Nibelheim reactor, but the basement books probably had erased the woman as much as the rest of Shinra had.]
Vincent said her name was Lucrecia Crescent. She was a Shinra scientist who worked with Hojo.
[He'll get there, because there's got to be some kind of reason why he was told that name and not her real one. Aliens being involved somehow didn't really bode well. There's a flash of visible dislike at the mention of Hojo.
After a moment of silence, he picks his relic up off the side table; it's a bit of a stretch but he can do that much, even if it's very uncomfortable to do. He's dealt with far worse pain than pulling wounds.
Once more it's set to record. Sephiroth was pretty sure there was a reasonable chance he'd just pass back out at some point, so having something for later..]
It's probably too much to hope if you know she's still alive. By your time, that'd be.. [Math is in fact, hard, when on as many things as he is right now.] ...Twenty five, thirty years after I was born? Shinra's people don't go missing that long without..
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He's not really expecting company; the presence of the black haired SOLDIER isn't unwelcome but it's certainly ... really confusing. It takes sluggish thoughts a little bit to conclude that he probably hadn't managed to call for help or anything, but maybe someone checked his relic for contacts.
With all the slowness of a motivated worm, he moves just enough to reach one hand towards Zack with every intention of giving the lightest of pokes. This could after all be a dream, or a weird drug interaction hallucination.]
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Whoa!
[His gaze shifts towards the source, shock slowly unraveling as he parses what he finds: Sephiroth.]
Hey, you're up!
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He'd have picked a more familiar location wouldn't he?]
...I think so.
[The hoarse rasp is to be expected, sounding great wasn't going to happen. Nor was sitting up, no matter how strong the impulse was to prove he's fine, even just to himself.]
Why are you here? [No that's not right, it's not what he was trying to ask, so he tries again, settling his arm back down. Zack is not an unwelcome sight, but it IS a mystery.] How did you know where I am?
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[Zack gives him a returning poke- right to the forehead, since everything else is unknown-wound territory and he doesn't want to cause the poor kid more pain. Feel that? He's very real!
The question is sobering after a moment, though.]
The guy who did this to you broke into my room and woke me up to come and stay with you. It's been a weird night.
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[Though there's a wince at being poked it doesn't seem to be a pain sort of reaction. No, he's grateful, really! It's nice to see someone he's reasonably sure isn't going to suddenly shoot him full of holes! .. Granted he also hadn't thought Vincent was going to and that didn't exactly turn out well.
Which might be why as Zack explains how he got there, his expression shifts a bit, terribly confused, attempting to work out exactly how any of that made sense. This effort fails, visibly. Maybe he hadn't shaken off sleep or fatigue enough yet.]
That's ... [COMPLETELY. NONSENSICAL. And Zack isn't likely to have any idea either, unless Turks operate very differently than what he thought. While it takes effort to both speak clearly and have a fully formed sentence, he's determined to do just that. It slows him down a bit.] ...I thought Turks were more professional than that.
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Yeahhh, I don't think that guy's been a Turk for a long, long time. Not that that makes any of this better, but it explains one thing.
[That is, the lack of restraint. Though "professional" doesn't always come to mind when he thinks about the Turks he knows. Mostly Reno. He's a bit too off the cuff.
He doesn't really want to talk about Vincent, though. At least not yet.]
How you feeling? Have they been treating you well here?
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[But in the other direction. Earlier, and possibly under cover, but what sort of mission would require an outfit like that?
He hadn't thought about it as much as he probably should have. Trusting strangers, even ones that were potential allies, isn't something that should be done quickly it seems.
There's no quick response to the question, his gaze shifting away from Zack to scan the room again, measuring. This has in fact, been one of the most surreal experiences of his life but not for the typical reasons.]
...Tired. But it doesn't hurt as much as usual. [It didn't feel great to just lay there, feeling the pain of fresh surgery and a day's being hunted. But there's actually drugs in some of those IV bags, and while Hojo never bothered, they apparently did!] This is the strangest lab I have been in. They're kind but ... ask? About everything, when I'm awake enough.
[It's called 'consent'.]
And then the nurse that looks like a moth puts me back out when they're done.
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He sizes Sephiroth up, taking in his expression, what he can glean from the kid's condition, his general vibe. He does look tired, but not at death's door at least. Less pale than he'd been when Zack first arrived. It's a good sign.]
It's not a lab, it's a hospital. Believe it or not this is how med treatment is supposed to go.
[SOLDIERs really do get the short end of the stick. Doesn't surprise him that Sephiroth doesn't know what a hospital is like, though. He probably always had to go back to the lab... what a depressing thought.]
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He shifts a little under the older SOLDIER's scrutiny. He knows it's everywhere, signs of his own inability to fight off even one single Turk. Probably it was second-hand embarrassing for Zack.]
...It doesn't really encourage you to not fail next time though, does it.
[This is a normal thing, for normal people. Comfort and a television and painkillers and antibiotics. Normal things. It's almost insulting to his training and education to this point, but he knows it's not the medication that keeps him from being able to lever himself upright when he suddenly gives it a try, the dragging weakness entirely his own.]
I'll do better. It won't happen again.
[Sephiroth tries his best to sound reassuring, but it's hard to really look it while being cosseted by some hospital's efforts.]
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Zack considers that comment with furrowed brows, and shakes his head.]
Listen... what happened wasn't your fault. He shouldn't have done it. You're not the one who has to do better in this case.
[He knows what it's like, to feel like a failure even when the cause of the problem isn't anything you did. He gets it. But he wishes there'd been someone around back then, someone he could tell everything (without worrying about classified or bureaucratic bull) who could in turn tell him it wasn't his fault, or his failure.
Shinra needs better mentors. Shinra needs better everything.]
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There were few old Turks too, but at least there were a couple.]
Maybe not the circumstances.
[He'll allow that, with a breathy sort of half-hearted laugh. He didn't choose to get shot down, after all. There's still a flaw in Sephiroth's thinking, a certainty that if a Turk came after him it was with a good reason, like being ordered to. That it was personal hasn't entered the equation.]
What I did is my fault though. I shouldn't ... have treated it like the only threat was scavenging monsters. I didn't think one of the monsters had a gun.
[Calling people monsters is generally taboo, but in his defense, Vincent was very literally a monster at several points. The erratic jumping markers on the monitors suggest he is nowhere near as calm and unaffected by this as he's trying to act.]
... I'm glad he brought you though.
[Zack didn't care if his performance hadn't been perfect. Zack wouldn't make him do it over and over again until he got it right.]
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Zack watches him as he answers, frowning tightly. It's not entirely unlike Sephiroth to be self-critical, but he's usually far more sure of himself overall. But he's still a kid, and a long way from the indomitable top dog of SOLDIER. Of course he's going to be reconsidering future strategies.
Damn you, Vincent, though. Now he'll be less inclined to trust others- and that can lead to isolation. How can he backpedal on this...?]
I'm glad, too. You shouldn't have to be dealing with this solo. I've got your back, okay? So you can rest and heal up without worry. For right now, though, will you tell me how exactly it went down? Vincent wasn't all that chatty.
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[He'd scolded his own team about splitting off and going alone into dangerous locations, and then he'd done the same thing! It's a well deserved comeuppance as far as Sephiroth is concerned, but also one he'll be far more cautious about letting repeat itself.
Whether or not it meant he'd take backup next time, if there was a next time, or simply make sure he's the one doing the hunting remained to be seen. He's not sure it's something he should ask of anyone. Zack's already been dragged along through too much, even he could see that.]
I can tell you what happened, but I can't tell you why for certain.
[Sephiroth doesn't KNOW why. He has a lot of guesses. But they're just guesses.
In spite of claiming he would, it takes him a minute to actually bother to do so.]
When he arrived during the science fair, I approached him because he had a pistol with a materia slot as a reward, and I thought I could bargain it away from him if he didn't know what it was. He did, and he had identification on him. Vincent Valentine, General Affairs Department. Out of date, but still pretty new looking. Since he's ... possibly from the past I wanted to ask him about some people. My mother among them.
[But not JUST her. It takes him time to work through it, voice still uncomfortably hoarse, the dry feeling never quite going away. The memory of the blistering heat of the desert lingered too.]
He wanted somewhere more private so others wouldn't overhear. The school was crowded, it made sense. He chose the mountain in Cruel Summer, daybreak. I ... make a very visible target in the air these days.
[The undamaged wing shifts slightly, almost a shrug, beneath the shrouding blanket.]
When I was within range, he shot me out of the sky, about halfway up the mountain. [It was a long, long fall. He doesn't remember the impact, or how long he was on the ground for.] ...I didn't think it'd be him, just some idiot hunter, sniping at potential monsters without being sure of the target. I was wrong. I spent til sunset being hounded from more secure locations by what I thought was just scavengers and a behemoth cub.
[Twelve hours, bloody and broken, being chased from dark hiding spot to dark hiding spot, through the vicious desert heat. No food, no water, no time to rest. But there was always a waiting monster. That though, the last bit is what's important, and in a gathering moment of bitter spite, someone else's secret becomes rather less secret.]
He's a shapechanger. Not like Familiars. I didn't know Turks had agents like that. That other form.. it's not a natural behemoth.
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Wait, not a familiar thing? I don't think Turks can do that, either. They're not, uh. Experiments. Maybe it's something that happened after he left?
[Turks are just... Turks. Incredibly skilled, dripping in resource accessibility, utterly professional. But still just normal humans with normal weapons. What set them apart was their training, not physical enhancements. Or weird powers.]
He said he stopped when he saw your locket. Did he say anything about her?
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[Or at least, he didn't leave the Turks, and the science department was up to some unsactioned things. Which ... knowing Hojo as well as he did, he could easily believe. Except Turks looked after their own, and surely they wouldn't have just ... let one go missing. They had to know.
The train of thought is pushed away. It's easier to consider things in the nice neat categories he'd been taught. Anything else can wait til later, when he had time to mull the implications better.
But Vincent could also be lying. Or telling the absolute truth, and he's back to where he started - don't trust people he can't absolutely verify. On whether or not Vincent said anything, he has to think about it.]
.... No. I don't think he did. By then I was... [Actively dying. It wasn't as bad as he expected it to be, except that he was certain it was frightening in spite of the reassurances (or demands) that he couldn't feel fear anymore and it had been thoroughly trained out.] ..Not really clearheaded. He was angry, I think. Before that, calm. Apologetic it took that long to catch up. Just another job.
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[Zack exhales an annoyed noise, leaning back in his chair. This is one heck of a mess, still. Now what? He genuinely doesn't care whether Vincent is or isn't a Turk (but seriously they don't dress like that), what kind of job he thinks he's taken on, whether this change of heart is long term or not. He doesn't know the man. They're not friends, he doesn't have to care. Let Cloud handle that one.
Sephiroth, though...]
Feels unfair to ask this of you when you're the one who got attacked, but... think we can manage some kind of truce between you two? It'd be best if no one tries to kill anybody else.
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The thought of a truce appears to be completely out of left field, by the way his expression blanks, confused. Again there's no response right away, as this processes sluggishly. He wasn't as yet terribly inclined towards revenge, and if it had been just a job, then retaliating against Vincent wouldn't do any good.
He'd have to go after whoever gave him the job.]
What.. why would..
[There is another brief, aborted effort to sit up, but he gives up on it quickly. MUCH too soon to be moving around too much, and his sigh is very put upon. This is what he gets.]
What would be the point? He won't stay down anyway. In fact why did he bother coming after me, when I'd just--
[It's pretty obvious when his train of thought crashes to a sudden stop and derails entirely.]
....Does he know people don't die?
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[The last time it felt like his life was truly in danger - and the last time a trial had a legitimate body count - was months ago. Been a lot of psych drama since then. He died during the fae attacks and he can't even say the new stuff is better.]
I'll let him know, if nobody beats me to it. Pretty sure he won't be attacking you again either way, unless you do something to set him off. ...I don't actually know how easy that would be, sorry. Guy's still a stranger to me.
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[Maybe it was some kind of instinct that tipped people off as to where the danger might come from. But someone was going to have to tell Vincent, or it might happen again, and everyone would be wasting their time.
Maybe he'd do it himself, when moving too much didn't have such an obnoxiously high cost. After all..]
The next time I'll be able to handle it, so I'll tell him myself. I need to find him anyway, easy or not to set him off; he has my things, and ... I think he knows my mother. Or knew, at least.
[Everything else is terribly morose, but that is a little bright spot. A tiny bit of hope. He might finally get some real, substantial information!]
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Did Vincent seem like the kind of person who socialized? You probably got told because you talked to people. I think he just lurks and says cryptic shit.
[Vincent is welcome to try and prove him wrong, but he's doubtful it'll work.
Zack does sigh, though, because at the mention of his mom, he's reminded that it's... probably time to come clean. If they keep all these secrets he's just going to ask these questions to the wrong people, probably. Like maybe people who don't want to deal with him, people who shouldn't have to.]
He does know her. We talked on the train. And... truth is, I know a little more than I claimed, back when we met. I'll tell you if you want to hear it, but I hope you'll understand why I kept it to myself once you know. [He pauses, then adds reluctantly,] The future's really ugly.
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But lurking and saying cryptic shit did sound on point for pretty much any Turk too.
Oh but then there's confirmation that he's on the right track and -- on its heels follows much more ominous words. Zack was from the future, he knew that. They were SOLDIERs, killers by trade, weapons to be pointed at an enemy and told to remove all threats ... what could be uglier than what he was already doing in Rhadore?]
.... I won't blame you if it's not rainbows and good times. I know what we are.
[He really doesn't. Not like that.]
But if.. ..anything's better than nothing, Zack. A lot of people come from ... terrible families, or bad circumstances. But at least it's something.
[There's a part of him, small and unhappy, that feels a bit stung that all this time Zack might have already had the answers he'd wanted and said nothing. But ... late was better than never, right?]
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Just sucks that this poor kid is about to find out he's gonna grow up to be King Monster.
Zack rests his elbows on his knees, hands clasped together, chin balanced against them, and for a long few moments he says nothing, just thinks. He thinks really hard about how he wants to share... well, any of this.
Maybe start with what he knows Sephiroth wants the most. It was in many ways the beginning of all of this, and it might lighten the sting of Zack keeping quiet about it before.]
I didn't lie to you, when you showed me that picture, [he begins, slow and careful.] I'd never seen that woman in my life. Whoever gave it to you lied about her name, though. It's not Jenova. Jenova's an alien, your mom's human.
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[That was. Odd. He had thought his mother was human, she certainly looked it in the photograph. But in turn Zack knew about the .. alien? And not the woman.
This is mulled over. That there's an alien at all is certainly a thing, but with more relevant things at hand, it's dismissed. If jenova isn't his mother, then so be it; there were other names to be uncovered.
But why was an alien involved at all?]
..Do you know her real name?
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Vincent said her name was Lucrecia Crescent. She was a Shinra scientist who worked with Hojo.
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After a moment of silence, he picks his relic up off the side table; it's a bit of a stretch but he can do that much, even if it's very uncomfortable to do. He's dealt with far worse pain than pulling wounds.
Once more it's set to record. Sephiroth was pretty sure there was a reasonable chance he'd just pass back out at some point, so having something for later..]
It's probably too much to hope if you know she's still alive. By your time, that'd be.. [Math is in fact, hard, when on as many things as he is right now.] ...Twenty five, thirty years after I was born? Shinra's people don't go missing that long without..
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